FCC Reviews Paperwork to Ease Small Business Burdens
Published Date: 12/18/2025
Notice
Summary
The FCC is checking in with the public and agencies to see if their paperwork requests are really needed and easy to handle. They want to cut down on hassle, especially for small businesses with fewer than 25 employees. If you have thoughts, send them in by February 17, 2026—this could save everyone time and money!
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Quarterly Public-File Fundraising Records
If you operate a noncommercial educational FM or TV station and conduct third-party fundraisers, you must place quarterly records in your local public inspection file by the 10th day of the succeeding calendar quarter (e.g., January 10 for Oct–Dec). Records must include date, time, duration, type of activity, beneficiary name, a brief description of the cause, and, if the station took part in tallying/receiving funds, an approximation of total funds raised rounded to the nearest $10,000. The FCC estimates 2,200 respondents, 33,000 responses, 0.5 hours per response, and a total annual burden of 16,500 hours.
On-Air Fundraiser Disclosure Rule
If you run a noncommercial educational (NCE) FM or TV station and you interrupt regular programming to hold a fundraiser for a third-party nonprofit, you must say on-air at the start and end of the fundraiser and at least once each hour that the fundraiser is not for the station and name the nonprofit beneficiary.
Comment Window to Reduce Small-Biz Burden
The FCC is requesting public comments (due February 17, 2026) on these information collections and specifically asks for suggestions to further reduce paperwork burdens on small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees.
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Key Dates
Department and Agencies
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